This application relates to non-predatory animal control compositions and methods, and more particularly it relates to non-predatory mammalian animal repellent compositions and to methods for repelling such animals, e.g. roe deer, elk, moose and hare.
In modern society conflicts arise between different interests with respect to the use of natural resources such as forests, meadows and fields. The parties in this conflict may be numerous and the individual citizen will often belong to different sides according to the activity exercised at the moment. A rich animal life is important to society in general and particularly gratifying for those interested in hunting, but constitutes a problem to road users and may cause browsing damage in fields, forest plantations and gardens.
The growth in the number of elk, roe deer and rabbits has accelerated recently partly because of various game encouraging measures. At the same time the frequency of accidents caused by collision between such animals as elk and roe deer and cars has become greater and has given rise to rather serious traffic problems (reference: "The Highways Department of the Swedish State: The Game Accident Project", May 1980). Even half-wild, non-predatory animals such as reindeer in the northern part of Scandinavia, cause similar difficulties for the traffic.
Browsing damage by elk, roe deer, rabbits and other non-predatory wild animals on forest plantations, fields and gardens do not involve personal injuries or death but such damage (because of the increase in the population density of said non-predatory animals) has grown to such a size that the damage is significant both from a private and socio-economic viewpoint. Accordingly, a great effort has been made to uncover techniques for keeping such non-predatory animals from the areas which they damage.
A great effort has been made in connection with game and highway traffic regarding the aforementioned problem. Acoustic, optical and chemical methods have been used in addition to the building of fences along certain highways. The optical repellent means, primarily game mirrors, have largely proven to be without effect since after a short familiarization period, the animals are not repelled as a result of the use of said mirrors. By the same token, acoustic methods have been proven to be without effect since after a short familiarization period, the animals are not repelled by the use of said acoustic methods.
If fences are made sufficiently high, they are effective at least insofar as the larger of the non-predatory animals are concerned; such as elk and roe deer. However, for cost reasons and as a result of the fact that the fences hamper outdoor life, this method for avoiding game accidents is impractical (reference: The Highways Department of the Swedish State: The Game Accident Project, May 1980).
Insofar as the use of chemicals as repellents is concerned, numerous literature exists indicating the efficacy of chemical repellency means against both predatory and non-predatory mammals. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,474,176 issued on Oct. 21, 1969 discloses a method for repelling animals including cats and dogs which comprises exposing such animals to a repellent amount of at least one ketone which is:
(a) a saturated aliphatic ketone having from 7 to 19 carbon atoms; PA1 (b) an unsaturated aliphatic ketone having from 7 to 13 carbon atoms; or PA1 (c) 4-t-amyl-cyclohexanone or 4-t-butyl cyclohexanone. PA1 98: 685a Neocortical response to odors of sex steroid hormones in the dog. Onoda, Norihiko; Ariki, Takeshi; Imamura, Kazuyuki; Iino, Masae (Sch. Med., Gunma Univ., Maebashi, Japan). Proc. Jpn. Acad., Ser. B 1982, 58(7), 222-5 (Eng.) In the dog, 24 neurons of a region of the orbital gyrus showed changes in their discharge rate in response to sex steroid and animal product (feces and urine) odors. Of the 24 neurons, 58.3% responded to at least 1 sex steroid tested; testosterone [58-22-0], androsterone [53-41-8], progesterone [57-83-0], or estradiol [50-28-2] and 1 neuron responded exclusively to steroids. In the neocortex, 64.3 and 21.4% of the neurons tested responded to only 1 or 2 steroids, resp. No relation between neocortex response and the sex of the animal was seen. Animal product odors elicited responses in 78.6% of the neurons tested in the neocortex. Thus, in the dog, steroids may act as ectohormones which communicate messages such as sex differences and the sexual state of the animal. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,870 issued on June 26, 1973 (title: "Method of Preparing .DELTA..sup.9(II) Estrone") and PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,236 issued on July 12, 1977 (title: "Process for Preparing 9.alpha.-Hydroxy Androstenedione").
In view of the high volatility of the ketones as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,474,176, the time of efficacy after treatment of a particular area with the ketone of U.S. Pat. No. 3,474,176 is relatively short and, accordingly, impractical when it is necessary to utilize the repellent material in an outdoor area, e.g. a forest, where it is desired to prevent a non-predatory species from damaging plant life and trees in particular.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,112 discloses the use of animal repellents contained in polymers. More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,112 issued on Mar. 16, 1982 discloses a receptacle such as a plastic trash can or bag which contains an animal repellent for ridding areas containing the receptacles of annoying insects or for preventing animals from turning over or destroying the receptacles when full. U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,112 discloses the use of effective amounts of naphthalene flakes and oil of citronella added in solid form to the synthetic resin which forms the receptacle.
Furthermore, experiments using other chemical repellent means against various wild animals have been conducted wherein cresol, isobutylalcohol, hartshorn oil, blood meal, thiram and butyric acid have been used as a repellent means against elk. In some cases a certain repellent effect has been observed. However, the experimental results have yielded no definitive conclusions regarding familiarization and other long-term effects (reference: Hans Rosengardten, University of Stockholm, Doctoral Thesis entitled: "Experiments with Smelling Repellents against Elk", January 1979.
It is known that non-predatory animals often react to smell of predatory animals attacking the non-predatory animal species whereby the reaction involves escaping by means of running away. Hunters are familiar with the fact that most non-predatory animals avoid contact with human beings and that it is the smell which to a great extent causes the animal to be aware of the presence of human beings. In substantially all cases, when one approaches a browsing roe deer upstream (with reference to air currents) from the roe deer, the roe deer will run away whereas a corresponding attempt downstream (with respect to air currents) will not give rise to any reaction on the part of the roe deer. The tendency of non-predatory animals to run away when noticing human smell has been utilized by suspending human hair from trees in order to keep fissiped game away from orchards (reference: "Cultivation of Fruit and Berries", No. 5, 1979/No. 1, 1980, Title: "Non-Poisonous Remedy against Damage by Wild Animals").
Chem. Abstracts, Volume 98, 1983, Number 685a "Neocortical response to odors of sex steroid hormones in the dog" abstracting an article by Onoda, et al, Proc. Jpn. Acad., Series B, 1982, 58(7), 222-5 discloses:
Bullard, et al "Preparation and Evaluation of a Synthetic Fermented Egg Coyote Attractant and Deer Repellent", J. Agric. Food Chem. Volume 26, Number 1, 1978, pages 160-163 indicates that fermented egg will repel deer but attract coyotes. Fermented egg probably contains a small amount of steroids in view of the teachings of:
The Bullard, et al article is also the subject of Canadian Letters Patent No. 1,022,070, the specification for which is incorporated by reference herein.
Although fermented egg yolk is shown as a deer repellent as shown by Bullard, et al and the said Canadian Letters Pat. No. 1,022,070, fermented egg yolk contains thousands of compounds and although it probably contains steroids, there is no reference that infers that it is the steroids in the fermented egg yolk in the concentration indicated that is responsible for the deer repellency. Nothing in the Bullard, et al paper or the Canadian Letters Patent discloses that it is the steroids that are responsible for the deer repellency and up to this point in time, it has been questionable as to whether or not other materials in the fermented egg yolk are responsible for the deer repellency as well as the coyote attractancy.
Furthermore, it should be observed that the ability of non-predatory and predatory animals to perceive smells is usually substantially greater than that of human beings. When substances which affect the olfactory nerve senstive to aroma are referred to in the preceding and subsequent paragraphs, the perception of predatory and non-predatory animals is referred to. The substances referred to as "smell substances" may sometimes be taken as completely odorless to the less developed sense of smell of human beings. There is reason to believe that the flight reaction of animals, particularly non-predatory animals, in response to the smell of human beings and beasts of prey (e.g. predatory animals) is instinctive and inherited to a great extent independently of previous contact with predatory animals or human beings.
The precise chemical composition affecting human olfaction is largely unknown. However, it may be presumed that there are large variations in olfactory sensitization and sensitivity between individuals and that there are also systematic differences due to age, sex and race. It is known that a large number of various substances may be found in the various secretions from the human body, for instance in sweat and urine. Some of these substances are perceived as odorous by certain persons, whereas others classify them as odorless. However, there are good reasons to believe that there exists a basic structure of smells which characterizes the human being as a species. The compounds in this smell originate from various secretions, primarily from sweat and urine. With respect to sweat, the secretions from the so-called apocrene sweat glands are of special interest. In human beings these sweat glands are present primarily in the axillary regions and in the area around the anal orifice and the genitals. Apart from the direct secretions from the human body, decomposition products also may be formed from these secretions under the influence of air, humidity and microorganisms, especially organisms included in the normal skin flora, and these decomposition products probably form part of the smell specific to the species.
Many of the components found in human sweat and urine have also been demonstrated in other mammals. At least some of the substances which may be expected to form part of the smell specific for the species chemically belong to the group of steroids and many of them have hormonal character. Even the amount of secretion from the apocrine sweat glands is small and the content of steroids in these secretions constitutes a small fraction of the total amount of the order of 0.02%. This amount is, in turn, composed of several different steroids and it may therefore be expected that the amount of individual steroids in secretions from the apocrine sweat glands in human beings is of the order of 1-10 picograms or, in some cases possibly approximately 1 nanogram. Also in the urine, the concentrations of steroids are extremely low, at least if some specific substance such as pregnancy hormones in pregnant females are excepted. The occurrence of steroids in secretions from the apocrine sweat glands which must probably be regarded as the "smell glands" of human beings similar to the corresponding glands in other mammals makes it probable that steroids constitute a significant part of the smell specific for the species. Differences between various mammals with respect to the smell should then be referred to the amount and balance between the various components.
In human sweat and urine the following steroids have been determined:
androst-4-en-3,17-dione having the structure: ##STR3## androsterone having the structure: ##STR4## dehydroepiandrosterone having the structure: ##STR5## preg-5-en-3.beta.-ol-20-one having the structure: ##STR6## 5.alpha.-androst-16-en-3.alpha.-ol having the structure: ##STR7## 5.alpha.-androst-16-en-3-one having the structure: ##STR8## testosterone having the structure: ##STR9## 11-keto-aetiocholanalone (3.alpha.-hydroxy-5.beta.-androstan-11,17-dione) having the structure: ##STR10## iso-androstanalone (6-.beta.-hydroxy-3,5-cycloandrostan-17-one) having the structure: ##STR11## estrone having the structure: ##STR12## estriol having the structure: ##STR13## estradiol having the structure: ##STR14## androstan-3-one having the structure: ##STR15## progesterone having the structure: ##STR16## pregnandiol (5.beta.-pregnane-3.alpha.,20.alpha.-diol) having the structure: ##STR17## and as oxidation products: 3,5-androstadien-17-one having the structure: ##STR18## androst-2-en-17-one having the structure: ##STR19##
The compound .DELTA..sup.16 -androsten-3.alpha.-ol (apocrol) having the structure: ##STR20## is disclosed by Bedoukian, "Perfumery and Flavoring Synthetics" as having a potential use in perfumery at pages 290 and 291. Similarly, Dr. M. G. J. Beets, "Quelques Aspects du Probleme de L'Odeur" in Parfumerie, Cosmetique, Savon, Volume 5, No. 4, April 1962, discloses "apocrol" as an odorant.
In addition, Patterson, J. Sci. Food Agri., 19, 434, (1968) discloses 3.alpha.-hydroxy-5.alpha.-androst-16-ene as a musk odor component in boar meat, the 3.alpha.-hydroxy-5.alpha.-androst-16-ene having the structure: ##STR21## which is apocrol again.
Furthermore, means containing steroids which may be of a hormonal character have been widely used both in medicine and domestic animal care; but not with a view to repelling non-predatory animals.
Accordingly, nothing in the prior art discloses a composition of matter consisting essentially of a steroid and an inert carrier, e.g. a polymer, in which such steroid is embedded the use of which is to repel non-predatory animal species.